City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Best pairing and AT for Beam Rifle?

Draeth Darkstar

By Draeth Darkstar,
Posted on: 2012-04-10 13:10 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion

 

Posted

It's about time for me to get myself a new technology origin character - I have way too many magic ones now - and I bought Beam Rifle a while back but haven't been able to use it. So I'm thinking of going with either a Defender or a Corruptor and picking up Beam Rifle. I'm kind of torn on the other set though, and can't decided which of the two ATs to use.

I've never played Traps long enough to know how it plays with Beam but it would fit the armored hero theme I'm going for. Are Trip Mine and Time Bomb worth taking? Or are they a waste? How's the redraw when Traps is paired with Beam? The -Regen in Traps seems like it would stack well with the -Regen in Beam to help with AVs and the like, and I know Traps is generally well regarded in the community for MMs. Is the set just as good for Defenders and Corruptors as it is for them? Which of those two ATs would be better to use for Traps?

Radiation Emission seems like a good fit as well, but I'm wondering if anyone has played it with Beam Rifle? Do you find yourself having to reapply your toggle debuffs mid-fight a lot or is it pretty much debuff and shoot? Are the Defender numbers better than the Corruptor numbers to the point of being a better choice?

Force Field and Sonic share most of the same benefits, chief among them being their fire and forget nature. Which AT would you use for these sets?

Are there any other sets I should consider? Or a good case for for being a Blaster instead? Anything I should know before making a Beam Rifle character?

@Rorn ---- Blue Baron ---- Guardian

 

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Originally Posted by Vauluur View Post
I'm kind of torn on the other set though, and can't decided which of the two ATs to use.
A passive-semi passive set; corruptor

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Are Trip Mine and Time Bomb worth taking?
Yes usually and absolutely not, respectively.

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How's the redraw when Traps is paired with Beam?
Should be minimal, unless you really like toe-bombing, but even that would still just be at the begining of combat.

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The -Regen in Traps seems like it would stack well with the -Regen in Beam to help with AVs and the like,
You can only do so much -regen before -regen becomes irrelevant. If you've floored your target's -regen, adding more -regen isn't going to be doing anything for you. Typically PGT's -1000% will floor most anything. Powersets with only -500% regen is typically plenty for most things.

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and I know Traps is generally well regarded in the community for MMs. Is the set just as good for Defenders and Corruptors as it is for them? Which of those two ATs would be better to use for Traps?
It's alright for both ATs. The difference for Corrs and Defenders is that there are many other good/better sets to use, like Kinetics or Cold.

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Radiation Emission seems like a good fit as well, but I'm wondering if anyone has played it with Beam Rifle?
It should be noted that Radiation Infection and Enervating Field (the two toggle debuffs) do not cause redraw. You get to keep your weapon out as you toggle those abilities. The only common use powers that Rad has that cause redraw is the heal and lingering radiation. The heal's usage can be reduced by softcapping/tohit debuffing so that you don't actually have to use it often, and Lingering Radiation only needs to be used every 30 seconds at most.

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Are the Defender numbers better than the Corruptor numbers to the point of being a better choice?
Depends on the set. Sonic Resonance is a set that will pretty much always be better on a Defender. Traps will typically be better on a Corruptor. Radiation is a close call, but the corruptor will still typically out perform the defender.

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Force Field and Sonic share most of the same benefits, chief among them being their fire and forget nature. Which AT would you use for these sets?
Sonic Resonance is absolutely better on a defender as all of it's relevant powers are affected by Defender's higher buff mods (remember that not all (read: many-most) powers are not affected by defender's higher buff mods in some way or entirely). I honestly wouldn't make a FF, Cold is better.

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Are there any other sets I should consider? Or a good case for for being a Blaster instead? Anything I should know before making a Beam Rifle character?
A blaster is best when incorporating it's melee attacks, as such I would not reccomend making a Blaster.

I'd say the main sets have been mentioned:
Rad: no redraw on toggle debuffing
Traps: semi-passive with good debuffing and self protection, but also a very slow and stationary set
Cold: Drop Sleet and go, very strong at high level, not great at low levels.
Sonic: If you really want a good set for a Defender

 

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Beam Rifle is primarily single target. There are three AoEs, but one of them is a 5 degree cone and it's not frequently going to hit multiple targets. Disintegration Spread will give you a bit more AoE potential as well.

I play Beam Rifle/Poison. I probably apply the poison debuffs more frequently than I have to just because they recharge so quickly.

If you want to leverage the cones, you want to try to stay at range, so you want to avoid buff/debuff sets that encourage entering melee.

Radiation wouldn't be a bad choice, if you avoid targeting your anchor, you probably won't defeat your anchor before the rest of the spawn.

 

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I'm glad you said that about /Rad, that makes it even more attractive. I'll probably be going with a Beam/Rad Corr with the information in this thread. Thanks guys

@Rorn ---- Blue Baron ---- Guardian

 

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Time Bomb really should be replaced with Detonator so I can blow up my 'allies'.

That said, quick question- do all the Kinetic powers force redraw?

 

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I have an FF/BR Defender. It works beautifully because I just toss up my bubbles, toggle Dispersion, and then draw the rifle and go to town. Admittedly my damage isn't nearly as hot, but it's great. Only time I get redraw is recasting bubbles or when I go to use Aid Other/Aid Self.

 

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Originally Posted by Mad Grim View Post
That said, quick question- do all the Kinetic powers force redraw?
Yes. Except for potentially Repel, but that shouldn't be used anyways.

 

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Originally Posted by DreadShinobi View Post
Yes. Except for potentially Repel, but that shouldn't be used anyways.
But I like Repel!

Ah well, Storm it is then.

 

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Trick Arrow/Beam Rifle Defender with a Tech Origin.

Yeah ... that's the (split) ticket ...

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

 

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Originally Posted by Vauluur View Post
Are Trip Mine and Time Bomb worth taking? Or are they a waste?
Trip Mines are good, Time Bomb is to be skipped.

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Originally Posted by Vauluur View Post
How's the redraw when Traps is paired with Beam?
Fine. Traps is rather bursty in terms of power usage; you throw out a bunch of gadgets, then spend some time blasting, then throw out more gadgets.

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Originally Posted by Vauluur View Post
Are there any other sets I should consider?
My Tech Origin Beam/Storm is pretty fun, and thematically Beam/ can make for a good "lightning gun", while the storm effects can be from weather control machines. She was fairly painful to solo to 16 and Freezing Rain, but is fine now though.

Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth

 

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Traps is nice for its combination of status protection, personal defenses, and stellar debuffing potential, but takes more player involvement than most to be played to maximum capacity.

Radiation is probably your best choice if you hate redraw and don't like how Traps plays.

@Draeth Darkstar
Virtue [Heroes, Roleplay], Freedom [Villains], Exalted [All Sides, Roleplay]
Code:
I24 Proc Chance = (Enhanced Recharge + Activation Time) * (Current PPM * 1.25) / 60*(1 + .75*(.15*Radius - 0.011*Radius*(360-Arc)/30))
Single Target Radius = 0. AoE Non-Cone Arc = 360.

 

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Originally Posted by Vauluur View Post
Are there any other sets I should consider? Or a good case for for being a Blaster instead? Anything I should know before making a Beam Rifle character?
I know that the general consensus in these forums is to only view Beam Rifle as a one-trick pony, that trick being Disintegration, but the set is much more than that. To begin with, every power in the set is pure energy damage(without knockback). With decent recharge you can have Overcharge up every other mob, and for the mobs in between you can focus on a hard target to get disintegration going before hitting the group with Cutting Beam + Psi Scream. Drop an Achilles Heel proc in CB and profit.

My BR/MM/Force Blaster is a beast. He's a 50(+3) range soft-capped hover blaster with Musculature Core Paragon, and he absolutely destroys mobs. On the ITF I like to BU+Aim+Overcharge+Cutting Beam+Psi Scream to destroy a whole mob of Cimerorans, plus the mob they rode in on. Leftover Cyclops or Minotaur? Swoop in and use Mind Probe's pure psi damage to punch a hole right through Unstoppable. AV? Drain Psyche. Yes, much of his power comes from Mental Manipulation, but the crashless nuke and follow up AoE's hurt so much more coming from a Blaster than they would from a Corruptor or Defender.

 

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Originally Posted by Issen View Post
I have an FF/BR Defender. It works beautifully because I just toss up my bubbles, toggle Dispersion, and then draw the rifle and go to town. Admittedly my damage isn't nearly as hot, but it's great. Only time I get redraw is recasting bubbles or when I go to use Aid Other/Aid Self.
+1 for this.

I have a FF/AR at lv33 and I struggle to use flamethrower and will always have to enhance it for range (Posi + range IO instead of the proc is still going to be tricky). The final two powers in beam rifle are both 80ft range AE's. Yes, one is a small arc of 5*, but 5* going all the way out at 80ft isn't as bad as it sounds and the other is an AoE instead of a cone like full auto.

I'm TEMPTED to reroll him because I don't like m60 (my 80ft range AoE) but full auto is 80ft by 20* which is more than acceptable, and I am interested to try out pinning enemies in corners with ignite. I prefer AR thematically for that character anyway.

 

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I have a BR/Dev blaster at 36 or 37. The lack of useful powers in Dev is nice because it means I'm not constantly redrawing my rifle and can focus on melting faces with my BFG.

I also have a BR/Traps that seems quite capable even at low levels. The redraw isn't terrible either, just drop traps and ruin a good guy's day.

I've heard a lot of good stuff about BR/Sonic and BR/FF. I would likely go /Sonic for the debuffs.

Also, fight Freakshow every chance you can. BR absolutely melts Freaks!

They ALL float down here. When you're down here with us, you'll float too!

@Starflier